GA-8GPNXP Duo: some issues with IDE drives
 

Hello,

I just bought a Giga-Byte GA-8GPNXP Duo motherboard and I am encountering
some issues with my IDE drives.

I connected:
- 1 Maxtor 40GB hard-drive as master on the IDE2 connector
- 1 Maxtor 40GB hard-drive as slave on the IDE2 connector
- 1 Plextor PX-130A as master on the IDE3 connector
- 1 Plextor PX-712A as slave on the IDE3 connector


I don't want to use RAID features. I just want the controler to run as a
standard ATAPI controler. I only use IDE drives I don't have any SATA drives
yet. I want to boot from the master HDD on IDE2.

The motherboard BIOS version is F6.
The GigaRAID BIOS version is 1.41.

I configured the BIOS like this:
- Hard Disk Boot Priority: 1. SCSI-0: IT8212
- On-Chip Primary PCI IDE [Enabled]
- SATA RAID/AHCI Mode [Disabled]
- On-Chip SATA Mode [Auto]
- Onboard H/W GigaRAID [Enabled]
- GigaRAID Function [ATA]


* After the message "Please wait for IDE scan", only the two hard drives are
seen (UDMA6) but I was never able to see the PX-130A whatever settings I use
and only saw the PX-712A drive a few times.

* Another issue is that in the BIOS Setup, the "IDE HDD Auto-Detection"
feature does not detect the parameters of my HDD.

I tried all my drives in another PC and they all work correctly.

Could you please tell me what is wrong with my configuration and my settings
and why I cannot see my DVD-ROM drives and auto-detect my HDD from the BIOS.
Please advise. Thank you.

Noël

Am I being stupid or have you connected your drives to the Gigaraid instead
of the IDE controller? At the very least you must set Gigaraid to IDE mode
in BIOS.

"Noël Danjou" wrote in message
...
Hello,

I just bought a Giga-Byte GA-8GPNXP Duo motherboard and I am encountering
some issues with my IDE drives.

I connected:
- 1 Maxtor 40GB hard-drive as master on the IDE2 connector
- 1 Maxtor 40GB hard-drive as slave on the IDE2 connector
- 1 Plextor PX-130A as master on the IDE3 connector
- 1 Plextor PX-712A as slave on the IDE3 connector


I don't want to use RAID features. I just want the controler to run as a
standard ATAPI controler. I only use IDE drives I don't have any SATA
drives
yet. I want to boot from the master HDD on IDE2.

The motherboard BIOS version is F6.
The GigaRAID BIOS version is 1.41.

I configured the BIOS like this:
- Hard Disk Boot Priority: 1. SCSI-0: IT8212
- On-Chip Primary PCI IDE [Enabled]
- SATA RAID/AHCI Mode [Disabled]
- On-Chip SATA Mode [Auto]
- Onboard H/W GigaRAID [Enabled]
- GigaRAID Function [ATA]


* After the message "Please wait for IDE scan", only the two hard drives
are
seen (UDMA6) but I was never able to see the PX-130A whatever settings I
use
and only saw the PX-712A drive a few times.

* Another issue is that in the BIOS Setup, the "IDE HDD Auto-Detection"
feature does not detect the parameters of my HDD.

I tried all my drives in another PC and they all work correctly.

Could you please tell me what is wrong with my configuration and my
settings
and why I cannot see my DVD-ROM drives and auto-detect my HDD from the
BIOS.
Please advise. Thank you.

Noël

Oh.......... I been there.
Well I forget most about how I ended up doing it exactly but ...........
I'm not sure on that board because it's slightly dif to mine but tell
me...........
Are there 3 connectors that fit the IDE connector cable?
Is one red & other 2 green?
While I await your response I'll just comment that the one red one is the
only "true" IDE one so connect the two optical drives to these & then you
need to connect the HD's to IDE 2.
You then need to go into the raid setup when booting & set it to (I think)
NORMAL or (I don't have the manual here!) is it JAOD?
See how you go & get back to me, but basically you need to set the raid up
but just use it as a normal disk.
You were right about booting from scsi.
If you are installing XP I just hope you installed the scsi driver at the
start of your XP installation?
If you didn't, you can put the HD & CD on the red (IDE) connector, install
XP & install the SCSI driver into it & THEN put it back on the other
channel.
Don't you just love gigabytes instructions?
Get back to us.............



"Ian" wrote in message
...
Am I being stupid or have you connected your drives to the Gigaraid
instead
of the IDE controller? At the very least you must set Gigaraid to IDE
mode
in BIOS.

"Noël Danjou" wrote in message
...
Hello,

I just bought a Giga-Byte GA-8GPNXP Duo motherboard and I am
encountering
some issues with my IDE drives.

I connected:
- 1 Maxtor 40GB hard-drive as master on the IDE2 connector
- 1 Maxtor 40GB hard-drive as slave on the IDE2 connector
- 1 Plextor PX-130A as master on the IDE3 connector
- 1 Plextor PX-712A as slave on the IDE3 connector


I don't want to use RAID features. I just want the controler to run as a
standard ATAPI controler. I only use IDE drives I don't have any SATA
drives
yet. I want to boot from the master HDD on IDE2.

The motherboard BIOS version is F6.
The GigaRAID BIOS version is 1.41.

I configured the BIOS like this:
- Hard Disk Boot Priority: 1. SCSI-0: IT8212
- On-Chip Primary PCI IDE [Enabled]
- SATA RAID/AHCI Mode [Disabled]
- On-Chip SATA Mode [Auto]
- Onboard H/W GigaRAID [Enabled]
- GigaRAID Function [ATA]


* After the message "Please wait for IDE scan", only the two hard drives
are
seen (UDMA6) but I was never able to see the PX-130A whatever settings I
use
and only saw the PX-712A drive a few times.

* Another issue is that in the BIOS Setup, the "IDE HDD Auto-Detection"
feature does not detect the parameters of my HDD.

I tried all my drives in another PC and they all work correctly.

Could you please tell me what is wrong with my configuration and my
settings
and why I cannot see my DVD-ROM drives and auto-detect my HDD from the
BIOS.
Please advise. Thank you.

Noël

The controler is indeed configured to work as an ATAPI controler not a RAID
controler. It is supposed to support 2 IDE ports with 2 devices on each.

-nd

Hello Bruce,

Thanks for your reply.

There are 3 connectors on the two IDE cables provided with the motherboard
so I plugged 2 devices on each of them.

When I set the GigaRAID controler to "ATA", I get a "GigaRAID ATAPI BIOS
V1.41" message during the boot so it should mean that the controler is
acting as a true IDE controler and it should be able to support 2 * 2
devices.

Whether I plug the optical drives to IDE3 or to IDE, the devices are not
seen and the PX-130 is constantly blinking. It does work though since I
successfully tested it on another PC and played a video DVD with it.

When I previously tried different settings I saw the PX-712A a few times
when plugged to IDE3 but I am not sure what the settings were. But I never
saw the PX-130A so there still is an issue.

There does not seem to be a setup when the GigaRAID is configured as an
ATAPI controler.

I was not able to install XP yet since I cannot use my DVD drive.

Thanks.
--
Noël

Hello,

I did not plug my disks on IDE1 because it is only ATA66/100 while my disks
are ATA133.

I tried to connect the two Maxtors to IDE3 and the two Plextors to IDE2 but
to no avail. Both Maxtors detected but none of the Plextors.

Now I replaced the Plextor PX-130A with my old Plextor CD-ROM PlexWriter
PX-2410. I plugged my 2 Maxtors on IDE2 and the PX-2410 and the PX-712A on
IDE3.

The 2 Maxtors are detected and the PX-2410 is also detected but not the
PX-712A.

Why would the controllers only accept CD-ROM drives and not DVD-ROM drives?
Could this be a compatibility issue of some kind?

I placed a bootable Windows XP CD in the plextor. After the "Please wait for
IDE scan" and I got a message saying "a bootable CD found" but I did not
find a way to start it. Is there a key to hit?

Now I tried to plug the two Plextors PX-2410 and PX-712A to IDE1 and I was
able to boot from CD and to start the installation. I don't see the boot
screen (where there is "DualBIOS") may be it is too fast? So I cannot say if
the drives are listed there but I'd think so.

When the PX-2410 is plugged to IDE1, in Setup "Standard CMOS feature"
"IDE HDD Auto-detection" the PlexWriter does appear but not the PX-712A.

I tried to start a XP installation from the CD, I hit F6 when the Setup told
me but it asked for a manufacturer CD. I am not sure yet if the drivers are
provided on the CD included with the motherboard.

It's unfortunate that the ATAPI controller is not seen as a real IDE
controller instead of seeing it as a SCSI controller.

Your suggestions are welcome. Thank you.

Noël

On Mon, 21 Feb 2005 18:56:45 +0100, "Noël Danjou"
wrote:

Hello,

I just bought a Giga-Byte GA-8GPNXP Duo motherboard and I am encountering
some issues with my IDE drives.

I connected:
- 1 Maxtor 40GB hard-drive as master on the IDE2 connector
- 1 Maxtor 40GB hard-drive as slave on the IDE2 connector
- 1 Plextor PX-130A as master on the IDE3 connector
- 1 Plextor PX-712A as slave on the IDE3 connector


I don't want to use RAID features. I just want the controler to run as a
standard ATAPI controler. I only use IDE drives I don't have any SATA drives
yet. I want to boot from the master HDD on IDE2.

The motherboard BIOS version is F6.
The GigaRAID BIOS version is 1.41.

I configured the BIOS like this:
- Hard Disk Boot Priority: 1. SCSI-0: IT8212
- On-Chip Primary PCI IDE [Enabled]
- SATA RAID/AHCI Mode [Disabled]
- On-Chip SATA Mode [Auto]
- Onboard H/W GigaRAID [Enabled]
- GigaRAID Function [ATA]


* After the message "Please wait for IDE scan", only the two hard drives are
seen (UDMA6) but I was never able to see the PX-130A whatever settings I use
and only saw the PX-712A drive a few times.

* Another issue is that in the BIOS Setup, the "IDE HDD Auto-Detection"
feature does not detect the parameters of my HDD.

I tried all my drives in another PC and they all work correctly.

Could you please tell me what is wrong with my configuration and my settings
and why I cannot see my DVD-ROM drives and auto-detect my HDD from the BIOS.
Please advise. Thank you.

Noël

According to Gigabyte, and to ITE, the implimentation on the Pro2 does
NOT support optical drives

As for other statements, ALL of the controllers will support ATA 6,
provided, you have a good 80 pin cable, AND you have just ATA 6.

My suggestion is that you move the primary drives (Maxtors) to IDE 1
put the Opticals on IDE 2

any additional drives can be plugged into IDE 3 or IDE 4



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If this is happening "It's unfortunate that the ATAPI controller is not seen
as a real IDE
controller instead of seeing it as a SCSI controller." then you have the ITE
(? could it be the other SATA controller?) controller configured as RAID.

The ITE controller has had several drivers and supporting bios versions.
With one at least the controller will act as an ATA only controller with
support for CD's etc. A counterpart driver exists that will do only RAID.
Perhaps this is tied in with the BIOS firmware for the ITE I.E. maybe it is
acting only as a RAID (SCSI) controller when enabled and the bios options
are not reflecting this limitation. Just a theory.

Forget about the transfer rate for your disc drives. The achieved difference
between ATA 133 and 100 is negligable. Put all your peripherals on the stock
standard IDE controllers built in and avoid the ITE. You still had enabled
in the bios the OnChip SATA RAID - this too can be disabled. I.E. try and
create a very plain old fashioned IDE setup and disable all RAID and other
controllers that are not needed.

General rule of thumb: IDE discs in the 1st IDE port, CD's / DVD's in second
port. Place the faster / more modern optical drive as Master and the older
as Slave. Check your jumpers. Master in the end of the cable, Slave in the
middle.

(OK so a lot of people will say this is unnecessary, but if you have it
setup like that NO ONE will argue with you).

If you still have trouble getting this going then, since you are doing an
install (?) install the IDE Master drive on the 1st channel and the DVD
Reader as master on the second and leave out all other peripherals that
aren't essential. When XP is up and running, add the peripherals in one at a
time checking first the bios to see that things are sensible, then boot into
XP to confirm the devices come up 100%.

HTH & BOL & Enjoy.




"Noël Danjou" wrote in message
...
Hello,

I did not plug my disks on IDE1 because it is only ATA66/100 while my
disks are ATA133.

I tried to connect the two Maxtors to IDE3 and the two Plextors to IDE2
but to no avail. Both Maxtors detected but none of the Plextors.

Now I replaced the Plextor PX-130A with my old Plextor CD-ROM PlexWriter
PX-2410. I plugged my 2 Maxtors on IDE2 and the PX-2410 and the PX-712A on
IDE3.

The 2 Maxtors are detected and the PX-2410 is also detected but not the
PX-712A.

Why would the controllers only accept CD-ROM drives and not DVD-ROM
drives? Could this be a compatibility issue of some kind?

I placed a bootable Windows XP CD in the plextor. After the "Please wait
for IDE scan" and I got a message saying "a bootable CD found" but I did
not find a way to start it. Is there a key to hit?

Now I tried to plug the two Plextors PX-2410 and PX-712A to IDE1 and I was
able to boot from CD and to start the installation. I don't see the boot
screen (where there is "DualBIOS") may be it is too fast? So I cannot say
if the drives are listed there but I'd think so.

When the PX-2410 is plugged to IDE1, in Setup "Standard CMOS feature"
"IDE HDD Auto-detection" the PlexWriter does appear but not the PX-712A.

I tried to start a XP installation from the CD, I hit F6 when the Setup
told me but it asked for a manufacturer CD. I am not sure yet if the
drivers are provided on the CD included with the motherboard.

It's unfortunate that the ATAPI controller is not seen as a real IDE
controller instead of seeing it as a SCSI controller.

Your suggestions are welcome. Thank you.

Noël

OK, sorry I been a while getting back to you but our clocks are dif to
yours!!!
Seems you have heaps of differing advice so not much point in confusing you
more.
Like I said. the board I was involved with was a dif one but same problem.
When you try all the other suggestions & if they don't work, contact me?
1. Forget about what you see of the flash screen & in bios. It doesn't show
SCSI or RAID. It will still work.
2. Put your optical drives on IDE 1.
3. Put your HD's on IDE 2.
4. Config IDE 2 as a raid. (normal)
5. Install raid driver.
6. Set bios to boot from SCSI.
7. Set to boot from HD (1 or 2)
OK, that is how it will finish up, but to get there I found it easier to
start with CD & HD ONLY on IDE1 channel & install XP, then install SCSI
driver, then put drives where I said & setup bios to suit.
Let me know?



"WillieNillie" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 21 Feb 2005 18:56:45 +0100, "Noël Danjou"
wrote:

Hello,

I just bought a Giga-Byte GA-8GPNXP Duo motherboard and I am encountering
some issues with my IDE drives.

I connected:
- 1 Maxtor 40GB hard-drive as master on the IDE2 connector
- 1 Maxtor 40GB hard-drive as slave on the IDE2 connector
- 1 Plextor PX-130A as master on the IDE3 connector
- 1 Plextor PX-712A as slave on the IDE3 connector


I don't want to use RAID features. I just want the controler to run as a
standard ATAPI controler. I only use IDE drives I don't have any SATA
drives
yet. I want to boot from the master HDD on IDE2.

The motherboard BIOS version is F6.
The GigaRAID BIOS version is 1.41.

I configured the BIOS like this:
- Hard Disk Boot Priority: 1. SCSI-0: IT8212
- On-Chip Primary PCI IDE [Enabled]
- SATA RAID/AHCI Mode [Disabled]
- On-Chip SATA Mode [Auto]
- Onboard H/W GigaRAID [Enabled]
- GigaRAID Function [ATA]


* After the message "Please wait for IDE scan", only the two hard drives
are
seen (UDMA6) but I was never able to see the PX-130A whatever settings I
use
and only saw the PX-712A drive a few times.

* Another issue is that in the BIOS Setup, the "IDE HDD Auto-Detection"
feature does not detect the parameters of my HDD.

I tried all my drives in another PC and they all work correctly.

Could you please tell me what is wrong with my configuration and my
settings
and why I cannot see my DVD-ROM drives and auto-detect my HDD from the
BIOS.
Please advise. Thank you.

Noël

According to Gigabyte, and to ITE, the implimentation on the Pro2 does
NOT support optical drives

As for other statements, ALL of the controllers will support ATA 6,
provided, you have a good 80 pin cable, AND you have just ATA 6.

My suggestion is that you move the primary drives (Maxtors) to IDE 1
put the Opticals on IDE 2

any additional drives can be plugged into IDE 3 or IDE 4



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Newsgroups
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ALL additional (i.e. not IDE1/2) IDE controllers are shown as SCSI
controllers in Windows. It's just the way it's done. The disks attached to
these will show as SCSI disks, even though they are obviously not.
Incidentally, the only way to check that they are in Mode6 (ATA133) is
usually on the boot up display message. You won't get this info in Device
manager with the additional controller/s.